Google launches fourth and final Android O developer preview

Google on Monday launched the fourth and final developer preview of Android 8.0, the next major update to its popular mobile operating system. The Android O APIs arrived as part of the third developer preview meaning today’s release largely consists of incremental updates and bug fixes.

The as-yet-named Android O (Oreo, anyone?) includes a number of new features such as autofill, adaptive launcher icons, picture-in-picture, improved notifications, support for Wi-Fi Aware and more.

Dave Burke, VP of Engineering for the Android team at Google, notes that incremental updates to the SDK, tools and Android Emulator system images are set to arrive in the coming days.

In addition to helping Google vet its OS, betas like this give enthusiastic users a sneak peek of what to expect in the next major release. The primary intent of the previews, however, is to provide developers time to test their apps before the public release arrives.

Speaking of, the beta release schedule for Android O has largely mirrored what Google did a year ago with Nougat. Assuming Google continues to stick with that same schedule, we’ll likely see Android O make its official debut sometime late next month. At this time, however, the search giant has only publicly committed to launching Android O by the end of the summer (the last official day of summer is September 22, FYI).

Google announced back in May that its mobile OS is now installed on more than two billion active devices around the globe. The latest stable release, Nougat, just recently hit double-digit distribution after being publicly available for close to 11 months.

Those interested in giving Android O a shot can sign up over on the Android Beta website. Compatible devices currently include the Pixel C, Pixel, Pixel XL, the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P and the Nexus Player.